Tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School: What Happened During Newtown, Connecticut Shooting?

this day when a searing tragedy struck in a place parents felt their children were safe the worst grade school shooting in US history at least 27 dead 20 children seven adults including the principal and the gunman killed himself and all over this town in churches like the United Methodist Church behind us well the lights are on and they are still open for prayer tonight they will be all night people have been gathering here for prayer to lean on each other and lean on a belief in something bigger themselves to help get through what is just impossible to believe here or anywhere else they sent him in here echoed and what you're seeing now down by the Washington Monument in DC many members of the Connecticut delegation was there but this story is really about their home here Newtown Connecticut just 27,000 people this is a place where people know each other families know each other and what happened today is known by all and it's not just about how many were lost it's about the age what is hitting everyone so hard is the reality of these being children that were targeted by a madman we now know his name we know he's 20 years old Adam Lanza we know that before he came to this school he shot his own mother Nancy in the face killing her at her home the looming question is why this man then decided to come to this school he shows up at a place where they're making gingerbread houses and preparation for the holidays and Christmas presents just kids a man in black enters with a vest and multiple weapons and begins a massacre it was a clear crisp and trouble-free start to the morning at Sandy Hook elementary school kids like Ella severs and her mother Amy eager for the weekend and the holidays to arrive it's Christmas time right we're all we mom in terms of Christmas planning some shopping cookie making we decorated our Christmas tree Ella Christmas list made sent to Santa yes Ella's class was preparing to make gingerbread houses when you first got there first got there it was like a regular day but at 9:41 a.m. the Children's Day and their innocence they shattered school what do you remember we got to school we did everything we needed to and then we heard all this racket then we heard them say going your copies we thought we had to go because something bad was happening what did the teacher do that um she read us some books and we talked about things and they played little games in there and while that was going on your teacher was reading new books and keeping you calm yeah she just kept her calm and told you a story she rents the Nutcracker and another book that was about Christmas how did you find out anything well we got a phone call from the school saying the schools were in lockdown lockdown I mean what sense does that make to you was a word for your kids kindergarten through 4 so not very good yeah lise quickly converge on the school secure the perimeter and start a painstaking search for the shooter police came in it's like is he in here then you ran out that included checking every door every crack every crevice every portion of that school our main objective was to evacuate as quickly and efficiently as possible any and all students and faculty in the school it takes an agonizing hour before it becomes clear just what's taken place inside the school next come ominous signs ambulances are called stretchers set up by 10:30 a.m. police and teachers escort groups of traumatized students out of the school kids who give the first indications of the terrible scene inside they're all together y'all put our hands on other people's shoulders and then our teacher hold the first person's hand and chill out of us out did you keep your eyes closed yes the whole time and when you open them where were you we were walking down to the fire station the children are taken to the fire department we're frantic parents warm desperate to find out if their kids are safe it was terrifying it's it's I'm still terrified I think I'm still in shock about it all I still don't know everything that happens you're rushing over here and you can't get to where you need to go and you have to park down here and walk when a son or daughter has found the relief is immense I was so happy I just Haku what goes through your mind when you see her oh my god this is the best day of my life the worst day of my life just gratefulness gratefulness I mean the tears coming your eyes immediately when you know that your child's okay but too many families aren't as lucky minutes dragged by no answers on what's going on inside the school as news trickles out the worst becomes obvious not all of the reunions between parent and child will be happy ones by 11 a.m. police give the first indications that there are multiple fatalities inside by 11:50 a.m. they announced most of the fatalities are children it is almost unimaginable twenty-seven dead twenty children news of the second worst shooting in US history smothers the country I know there's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief that I do the majority of those who died today were children beautiful little kids between the ages of five and ten years old [Music] they had their entire lives ahead of them birthdays graduations weddings kids of their own the man responsible for taking these lives 20 year-old Adam Lanza shown here in a 2005 photo Lanza's body found in a classroom after he took his own life he was armed for say authorities wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying two semi-automatic handguns a semi-automatic rifle was found in his car authorities had originally confused him with his older brother Ryan because he was carrying his brother's ID Lanza had apparently shot his own mother in the face before doing what we still can't understand heading to the school principal dawn hochsprung one of those killed ironically issued a new security alert letter to parents just this fall tonight Newtown residents gathered to pray for strength to get over the events that have rocked this small town as well as the lives of the most innocent among us evil visited this community today our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents sisters and brothers of these little children and for the families of the adults who were lost our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight they know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them too early it's not real because it's not here it doesn't happen here and you know what six degrees of separation we know those families there will be families and friends that we know you know some people got hurt right yes did you know that it's over mm I didn't know when I was over nine I probably would have never known when it was over yeah it's over okay you know that name yeah and what happened neither today happen and it's over okay and you have to be happy that you're okay and of course for the Seavers so much of why they want to come forward is because they feel for the families who are not as lucky as they were to get elder to come home and while it is over for that little girl and her family it's not for their reach into the community and this is going to be with them for a very long time they share in that grief I know that they do and I think over the next few days we know we're going to be hearing so many more stories of courage from little children and also from these teachers who held hands and prayed with the children and tried to keep the tragedy from becoming even worse and I spent the day this afternoon I spent some time with one young woman who wanted us to know what all the teachers do in that school how much they care about their children as she told her story she his first-grade teacher Caitlin Roy who's taught at Sandy Hook for six years and she suppressed her own fear to make sure her students believed that they were going to have a Christmas they were going to have a Chanukah and they would come through this together it was 9:30 5:00 in the morning with 29 year-old Caitlyn Roy began her morning class when it happened it was during our morning meeting and literally right in the middle of that was when it started what started what did you hear the shooting I'm the first classroom and did you know it was shooting I knew I was shooting immediately it was just a repetitive sound because it sounded like a the type of gun that just shoots over and over and over again and so I heard that and I knew immediately but something was obviously very wrong and I got up and I closed our door it wasn't locked but I closed it and I just told all of our students that we had to get in the bathroom is it was all I could think of I I knew we had to be hidden and held we have 16 students one was absent tonight so 15 15 frightened first graders one cramped place to hide and so you got them in the bathroom it's probably three feet by two feet it's very small I picked some of them up and put them on top of the toilet I put one of my students on top of the toilet just met I just knew we had to get in there and are you layered on top of him we were all yeah we were all very very close did they cry no if they started crying I would like to take their face and say it's gonna be okay you show me your smile like I really tried to like you know and one of my students was you know would say like things like I know karate so it's okay I'll lead the way out like really trying to be courageous and try to take over you know and so obviously I said okay well we really need to just we need to stay here right now we just need to be calm and still and quiet so even in the first grade they knew we were right there I mean we're the first room so we heard it so clearly you know they knew something was obviously very wrong many members of the emergency service unit saw from this town and surrounding towns did you tell them to be quiet did you worry about one of them I told them I told them to be quiet I told him we had to be absolutely quiet because I was just so afraid that if he did come in and then he would hear us and then he would maybe just start shooting the door so I said no we just have to be absolutely quiet and we have I said there are bad guys out there now we need to wait for the good guys as their teacher I want I'm their protector I'm the one who's always there to help them usually with school work so for me to have to listen to them say things like you know I just want to go home and have Christmas and you know I was just trying to tell them you will you will you were gonna be okay but we have to be positive we have to think positive they said to you we want to go home for Christmas there I just wanna hug my mom just you know things like that that were just theirs heartbreaking you know and like in my mom I mean cuz you're hearing I've never been a part of something obviously anywhere near this traumatic um and so I'm hearing the gunfire in the hallway and I'm thinking in my mind I'm the first classroom why isn't he coming you know I'm thinking we're next and you know and in my mind I'm thinking you know as as a six-year-old seven year old what are you what are your thoughts what are your you know and I'm thinking that I have to to almost be their parent like I have to tell them you know so I said to them I said I need you to know that I love you all very much and that it's going to be okay cuz I thought that was the last thing they're ever gonna hear I thought we were all gonna die you know and I don't know if that's okay you know teachers and you know but I wanted them to know someone love with him and I wanted them that to me one of the last things they heard not not the gun fires no horrible just wanted my kids and me to live like that's all I'm not a hero like I was just thinking where can we go and it happened to be the bathroom you know I just I wanted us to be okay and I'm so so saddened that there are people who in this situation are not okay um and my heart my heart goes out to anyone who knew them and it was partly good I just can't imagine how did you know you were gonna be okay what finally happened was the gunfire stopped the police came and started knocking and obviously I mean I was completely beside myself and I said I don't I don't believe you you need to put your badges under the door so they put their badges under the door and in my mind I'm like this doesn't really look like a real badge you you didn't believe the bed right so so I said if you're really a police officer then you would have a way to get in here you would have a key or you would have gotten it from the gym if everything's okay now you would have found the keys so he had the keys and he found the right one and he unlocked the door down the hill from the school dozens of parents gathered at the firehouse waiting to find out if their children had survived what did you say to your children as you're walking into that fire we're ok ok it's gonna be ok then you wonder who did this absolutely and why why you know for innocent children [Music] and again Chris she wanted to say that she knows every single teacher in that school was doing what she was doing for the children that they love and yet she raises the question at the end why why did this teacher have to be put in this position why did these kids have to be put in this position and of course it brings us to the person in this story who deserves attention in the least in many ways the gunman Adam Lanza and yet we do look to who he is we do try to understand why this happened hopefully it will be a window into some type of understanding of how to not make this happen again

Channel: ABC News

Views: 7,875,830

Keywords: Connecticut children, children tragedy, Connecticut school shooting, sandy hook elementary school, sandy hook elementary, sandy hook Connecticut, ct school shooting update, dark knight rises, aurora Colorado shooting, columbine school shooting, President Obama crying, abc news, cbs news, cnn news, fox news, nbc news

Id: 6X7cVDxYd6A

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 15 2012